(a) Technical Field
The present disclosure relates, generally, to an apparatus and method for air conditioning the interior of an electric vehicle. More particularly, it relates to an apparatus and method for air conditioning a vehicle interior using a battery charge control of an electric vehicle, which can suitably improve the cooling/heating performance by setting a start-up time of the electric vehicle and supplying heat generated from a battery during charge and its latent heat to the vehicle interior during initial start-up of the vehicle.
(b) Background Art
Pure electric vehicles driven only by an electric motor and hybrid vehicles driven by at least two power sources including an internal combustion engine and an electric motor are environment-friendly vehicles which provide an improvement in fuel efficiency and a reduction in exhaust gas.
A high voltage battery is mounted in these electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles as an energy source for driving the electric motor, a DC/DC converter, etc. and is self charged by regenerative braking during deceleration.
Recently, a plug-in hybrid vehicle which maximizes the electric power by the driving power of the vehicle has been developed. This plug-in hybrid vehicle is driven over a long distance only by the electric power of the battery and then is driven by the existing engine using gasoline fuel.
Preferably, in the case where the electric power of the battery mounted in the plug-in hybrid vehicle or the electric vehicle is exhausted, the vehicle can be suitably driven by charging the battery with a power source in the home for a predetermined time like charging a cellular phone.
As shown in FIG. 4, the charging process of the plug-in hybrid vehicle or the electric vehicle preferably includes a process of charging a battery with a power source in the home (e.g., midnight electricity) for a predetermined period of time by inserting a charging plug of the power source into low-speed and high-speed charging ports provided on one and the other sides of a vehicle body, and a process of maintaining the current state-of-charge of the battery when the battery is fully charged without additional charge.
Accordingly, the battery is fully charged before the vehicle is driven, and the vehicle is ready to be driven.
During the battery charge, heat is suitably generated from the battery, and thus separate cooling means and overheating protection means are suitably provided to prevent the battery from overheating. However, the heat around the battery is not easily dissipated.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.